UNIONDALE, N.Y. – After adding a third octagon win to his undefeated record at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 25, Jeremy Kennedy quickly fired off the next name on his hitlist: Gray Maynard.

But unlike other callouts that took place that night, there is no bad blood behind Kennedy’s (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC). Speaking to reporters after his unanimous decision win over Kyle Bochniak (7-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC), the featherweight offered a respectful and simple explanation for his interest in Maynard (13-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC).

“Everyone knows who Gray Maynard is,” Kennedy said after the preliminary card scrap, which streamed on UFC Fight Pass from NYCB LIVE at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. “He’s coming off a win. He’s right out there, you know, outside of the top-15 – if not, right around there. I’m looking to break into the top-15. He just fought (earlier this month at The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale).

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“I think around the same timeline, it just makes the most sense that way. But, really, anybody that – I want a guy that has a name. I can tell people, ‘Hey, I’m fighting this guy and they know’ instead of me having to explain it or whatever. I’m in the UFC now. I want to keep fighting these name guys. If they’re in the top 15, even better. But I want them coming off of a win.”

While Maynard is indeed coming off a (big) win, a dominant unanimous decision over Teruto Ishihara, he’s seen a rough few years in the octagon. After two memorable title battles with then-champ Frankie Edgar in 2011 – a split draw and a fourth-round knockout loss – he followed a win over Clay Guida with four straight losses. Maynard, now 37, then decided to drop to the 145-pound division, where he’s gone 2-1.

While Kennedy’s record certainly lacks the high-profile names featured on Maynard’s, the 24-year-old Canadian prospect has most recently taken unanimous decisions over Alessandro Ricci, Rony Jason and Bochniak to round out a perfect pro record.

In what would be a classic up-and-comer vs. veteran battle, there certainly wouldn’t be any lack of respect on Kennedy’s end.

“I watched Gray Maynard when he fought Frankie Edgar on that New Year’s card (UFC 125) way back in the day,” Kennedy said. “I was a fan, I was just a kid there. So to think now, fast forward, how many years, I could be possibly fighting him. That’d be amazing.”

Ideally, Kennedy says he’d like to take a four-month window between fights. But if Maynard is OK with ditching his own original target and happens be available for the UFC 216 card in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the Sept. 9 date might just work.

Comedian Diaz was our in-studio guest host and helped us make final predictions for The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale and UFC 213. Tavares and Maynard joined the program to soak up Junkie Karma; fighters who appear on MMAjunkie Radio on the day of their fight are 57-14. Tonight at the TUF 25 Finale, Tavares faces Elias Theodorou and Maynard meets Teruto Ishihara.

Maynard, who officially dropped to featherweight a year ago, called out critics who wrote him off after a loss to Hall and asked to fight Artem Lobov, declaring: “I’ll never take another fight that the person’s a coward.

“Everybody is like, ‘He got beat, he’s done.’ No, I’m not done. That was nothing. He didn’t even punch me. I barely even punched him. There was no risk in that fight (with Hall). It was a waste of time. And everybody still called me out. That’s not my fault. He’s the (expletive); he’s the coward. And I’ll never take a fight like that again.”

Maynard (13-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) went back to his wrestling roots against Ishihara (9-4-2 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC), repeatedly taking the fight to the mat and grinding out the Japanese prospect. Judges ruled it a complete shutout, awarding unanimous 30-26 scorecards in the UFC Fight Pass-streamed bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Maynard came into the fight on a bad skid, losing five of seven bouts since a title rematch with now ex-lightweight champ Frankie Edgar ended in a knockout loss. But he said MMA observers who advised him to retire only provided motivation.

“Yeah, they have (written me off),” he said. “But that’s OK, because every article, every tweet I see about ‘Gray should retire,’ ‘Gray should do this,’ all I read is what they would do if they were me. They would retire. They would quit. I don’t quit. I don’t quit until I win.”

The featherweight bout opened today’s UFC event, The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The preliminary-card bout streamed on UFC Fight Pass prior to the FS1-televised prelims and main card.

One round after the other, Maynard (13-6-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC) set the tone early by taking down Ishihara (9-4-2 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC) and smothering him on the mat. Each time Ishihara tried getting back to his feet, Maynard would remain on him like glue and get him back to the mat. If Ishihara did manage to escape to his feet, Maynard wouldn’t waste time before perfectly timing a takedown attempt.

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“That’s the hardest way to win,” Maynard said, “with those takedowns and grinding a person out.”

Maynard twice almost finished the fight in the third round. He opened the frame with a quick takedown. While on the mat, Maynard had a kimura in deep that Ishihara managed to get out of. Not long after, Maynard locked in a guillotine up against the cage. But credit Ishihara for finding a way out.

The third round saw a little bit of controversy as Ishihara hit Maynard with illegal up-kicks to the face as Maynard postured up on his knees. The referee issued a warning to Ishihara, who also got some time to breather.

It didn’t matter, though. Maynard rode him out for the final 90 seconds to lock up the decisive victory.

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